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After holding four public hearings, the Livermore City Council has adopted its final redistricting map referred to as Plan Cardinal, which includes changes such as moving Junction Avenue School to District 1, with the boundary following Portola to Lee Avenue, and St. Michael's School to District 1 with the boundary following Church Street to 5th Street to Maple and then west on East Avenue.
The change impacting St. Michael's School puts all of the St. Michael's buildings, including the Catholic church and the convent in the same district. Junction Avenue School is now in the same district with its community of interest.
The new map also makes a significant change to the northern border of District 3, which previously went from the 580 freeway, down First Street and up Junction Avenue to connect with N. Livermore Avenue. The Cardinal map moves that line south, so that it now sits on a portion of First Street and above Patterson Pass.
"I think it's the map that best balances all of our constraints," said Vice Mayor Gina Bonanno at the March 14 hearing where the council initially selected Plan Cardinal as its preferred map.
Each city with district-based elections is required to update the district boundaries every 10 years following receipt of updated population data from the Census. The city of Livermore has district-based elections for four councilmembers and therefore is required to update the district boundaries prior to the Nov. 8, 2022 Election, according to city staff's report.
The purpose for updating its district boundaries is to ensure that the districts remain substantially equal and still protect the rights of members of communities of interest to vote for candidates of their choice.
During the Feb. 14 public hearing, several draft maps were reviewed by the councilmembers and they provided direction which resulted in four new focus maps developed by the demographer, Michael Wagaman of Wagaman Strategies.
A fifth map was also on the table for the council's consideration, which maintained the district lines exactly as they were. The council had the option to keep its previous boundaries without any changes as they were legally compliant based on the redistricting criteria.
During the fifth and final public hearing Monday (March 28), the council voted unanimously to adopt Plan Cardinal with an ordinance, requesting only a few minor adjustments.
Some of the considerations that were discussed for selecting Plan Cardinal include, keeping communities of interest together, population deviation as well as deferral, which refers to a common side effect of staggered elections in which some residents do not get a chance to vote for a councilmember in two elections if their neighborhood is moved from one district to another where the council seats are not up for election in the current cycle.
The new population deviation among the districts is now 3.1%, which is well below the previous deviation of 8.3% and meets the overall goal to remain under 10%.
Following the vote, the council thanked the participants of the community and the consultants for their input and work on moving the process forward smoothly.
The second reading of the ordinance is set for April 11 with the new district boundaries set to go into effect for the coming municipal election on Nov. 8.
A complete recording of the March 28 council meeting is available here.
